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*puts fingers in ears and sings "Two Tickets To Paradise"*

stitch626 wrote:Why would the USS Nova be in the fleet? Its a science ship.

Don't forget, Starfleet in it's infinite wisdom sent an Oberth class science ship out as part of its fleet at Wolf 359. Not sure what they thought it's pitiful weapons could do against the Borg, but they did, nevertheless.

Grundig wrote:*puts fingers in ears and sings "Two Tickets To Paradise"*

But thats a great song!

I know, it's my defense mechanism!

Mark wrote:

stitch626 wrote:Why would the USS Nova be in the fleet? Its a science ship.

Don't forget, Starfleet in it's infinite wisdom sent an Oberth class science ship out as part of its fleet at Wolf 359. Not sure what they thought it's pitiful weapons could do against the Borg, but they did, nevertheless.

The admirals misunderstood the concept of "The power of science"...

I assume it was there for the same reasons it was there against the Borg: desperation. You get reports of a super-ship that can destroy planets heading towards Earth, and you pull anything with a gun on board to fight it off.

Just like the Battle of the Line.

You just got to try.

Rochey wrote:I assume it was there for the same reasons it was there against the Borg: desperation. You get reports of a super-ship that can destroy planets heading towards Earth, and you pull anything with a gun on board to fight it off.

I equate that move with this..........

An enemy tank is rolling up main street. It has already rolled right through the National Guard. In desperation, the Police turn out to try and stop it using assault rifles, shotguns, and various other tricks and weapons. Would one more man, armed with a pistol, REALLY make ANY difference in the outcome? Or would you be putting him unnessessarily in harms way when he REALLY could do no good there?

You never know. A bullet from that pistal may lodge itself somewhere that leads to the destruction of the tank.

There is a good reason why destroyers are employed in task forces:

1) Extra sensor capability. A destroyer radar/sonar operator might see something the aircraft carrier does not. Perhaps the job of the Oberth and 359 was to focus sensors upon the Borg cube to discern possible weaknesses. The Nova in Nemesis may have been there for the same reason, it's high-powered sensors perhaps having a better chance of spotting the "perfect" cloak.

2) Defense of larger ships. During ww II one of a destroyer's functions was to act as a screen to protect more valuable ships, either with anti-aircraft guns, hunting subs or at the very least taking a torpedo meant for a carrier.

So little ships can have a function in a major battle.

1) Extra sensor capability. A destroyer radar/sonar operator might see something the aircraft carrier does not. Perhaps the job of the Oberth and 359 was to focus sensors upon the Borg cube to discern possible weaknesses. The Nova in Nemesis may have been there for the same reason, it's high-powered sensors perhaps having a better chance of spotting the "perfect" cloak.

That could make sense to me, if the Oberth WASN'T seen running up on the Borg cube and firing at point blank range.

2) Defense of larger ships. During ww II one of a destroyer's functions was to act as a screen to protect more valuable ships, either with anti-aircraft guns, hunting subs or at the very least taking a torpedo meant for a carrier.

A lightly armored, lightly shielded, and lightly armed science ship really couldn't do much more than draw fire for a couple of seconds before it gets destroyed, killing everyone aboard. It wouldn't really be anything more than cannon fodder, IMHO.

A lightly armored, lightly shielded, and lightly armed science ship really couldn't do much more than draw fire for a couple of seconds before it gets destroyed, killing everyone aboard. It wouldn't really be anything more than cannon fodder, IMHO.

I could see the captain of the Oberth heroically ordering his ship to slide in between the Borg cube and a tractor beam holding a poor helpless Ambassador class to free it. 80 crew to save 550 seems like a good trade off. We know it would have all bee moot at 359, of course, but the Oberth captain would not have known that.

I equate that move with this..........

An enemy tank is rolling up main street. It has already rolled right through the National Guard. In desperation, the Police turn out to try and stop it using assault rifles, shotguns, and various other tricks and weapons. Would one more man, armed with a pistol, REALLY make ANY difference in the outcome? Or would you be putting him unnessessarily in harms way when he REALLY could do no good there?

That's not really that analogous.

A better example would be a battleship going up against a group of smaller, weaker ships during WW2. The commander in charge of the fleet of small ships figures that beating the battleship will be difficult, so he starts conscripting armed merchantmen into the fight to help them. The merchentmen won't be that much use, but they'll still be able to do something, as they still have guns that can harm the battleship.

A better example would be a battleship going up against a group of smaller, weaker ships during WW2. The commander in charge of the fleet of small ships figures that beating the battleship will be difficult, so he starts conscripting armed merchantmen into the fight to help them.

On an unrelated but interesting note I saw a really good doco last night about the naval battle that the Yamato fought in. Apparently a few US destroyers were pretty much forced to go up against a bunch of Japanese battle cruisers and they did really well for what they were. Seafort probably knows the name of the battle.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf - specifically the action off Samar. Basically the Japanese carrier force (with virtually no aircraft left) was used as a decoy, to draw the US fast carriers, with their Iowa class escort away from the US landing force. Then two battleship forces were intended to strike through the San Bernadino and Surigao straits to attack and sink the vessels carrying the Phillipine invasion force. Only the San Bernadino force got through, losing Yamato's sister ship, the Mushashi, to air attack en route (the other force was engaged and sunk by a US battle line in the Surigao strait), and it ran into a force of escort carriers and light forces. The US lost one escort carrier and three destroyers, the Japanese lost a cruiser, and promptly retired back through the strait.